Blog

Over the last month, many people have wondered what we are doing with the shipping container we purchased as an organization.

We’ll after years of advocating for those experiencing homelessness, we have decided to do something disruptive to ensure people that are being displaced all over the country are never forgotten.

Therefore, we are launching the first museum for homelessness and poverty by converting a shipping container into a immersirve space that will travel and educate people about a issue that should be addressed in our country.

We are calling it, “Dignity Museum.”

Mission:

The Dignity Museum will create an interactive experience for visitors to immerse themselves in the stories of those experiencing poverty and homelessness.

More than 1 million people are homeless in the United States, a quarter of those being children. Historically, homelessness has been viewed as a character flaw, a personality defect to be looked down on. Many of those experiencing homelessness have not been given an opportunity for another option.

Homelessness is systemic, generational, and often times as a result of long-held misconceptions about those experiencing the plight. Their lives are overlooked on street corners, under bridges, and on metal bunk beds in shelters across the country.

The Dignity Museum shares the stories of the forgotten, while presenting the unjust causes for the disparity in resource allocation. The stories of those who were born into poverty, those who became homeless as adults, the kids holding cardboard signs at the stoplight, and their collective fight to beat their circumstances.

Through interactive technology, research, storytelling, exhibits, and thought-provoking questions, visitors will confront their ideas of homelessness and what it takes to escape it.

The museum is designed to take the guest through a journey to promote a hopeful future of equality, opportunity, and justice.

Going Deeper:

Dignity Museum is the first of its kind in Atlanta. This innovative, living museum aims to help Atlantans and national tourists understand the suffering and struggle that many people face that are experiencing homelessness and those who face extreme poverty.

More importantly, Dignity Museum seeks to offer an up close and real view of the conditions in which people live in a way to create empathy and action among those who do not understand the reality of poverty.

Incorporating videography, Dignity Museum’s curated content will capture people caught in the rawness of their struggle in a way that gives them a voice and honors their journey as humans.

voiceless: a documentary on systemic poverty: is a poignant portrayal of the complexity and humanity of poverty in the United States of America. this documentary illuminates the hypocritical paradox of inequity and disparity in the “land of opportunity.” the primary vehicle for accomplishing this end is through the self-narrated stories of several individuals who are suffering through the imposition of homelessness.

in their own voices, viewers hear of how the problem of poverty is exacerbated by social location. sexism, racism, immigration status, criminal history and generational poverty produce nuanced intersections of suffering, immobility, and hopelessness. through their stories, people like Erica, a single mother of three, weave two common threads through the film. the first common thread is the idea that no one ever desires to be homeless, and the second is the fact that despite their greatest efforts, systems that were built to privilege the wealthy make it impossible for the poor to change their circumstances.

in the wake of the “tax cuts and jobs act,” these people and their stories are the clarion calls to conscious advocacy, self-surveillance of privilege and doing justice. enter Terence Lester, the starter of Love Beyond Walls. in this film, he gives an insider perspective on his March Against Poverty from Atlanta to Washington, D.C. to advocate for the poor. montages of his daily musings and meetings punctuate the film with images of the costs, challenges and joys of doing justice with and for the poor.

as a clergywoman, i am especially convicted by the critique of the church as an institution that does good only on Sundays, conflates justice with charity, and exchanges the poverty of Jesus for capitalistic prosperity. there is a flailing faith center in the fight against poverty, which is unfortunate because religious traditions, including but not limited to, Christianity, possess the means for leveling economic fields, galvanizing political resources and making lasting transformation. altogether, this documentary is a formidable, motivation, and it calls viewers into the fight. more importantly, it calls viewers into relationship, thereby humanizing the numbers and statistics of poverty through personal engagement with the poor and taking on their pain as our own, to feel and to eradicate.

This heartfelt film captures the 648 mile journey of the Love Beyond Walls Executive Director, Terence Lester, as he trekked from Atlanta, G.A. to Washington, D.C. to provide a voice to those facing systematic poverty.

If you have a heart for those experiencing homelessness and poverty, this film is for you.

BIG NEWS: Almost 9 months ago, I (Terence) started walking from Atlanta, GA to Washington D.C. to bring attention to poverty in our country. It took me two months to complete this journey on foot – with my friend Johnny Taylor following in a bus!

Fast-forward, our organization (Love Beyond Walls) has turned this 700+ mile journey into a documentary telling the stories of those we met along the way. To make it even greater, we were asked to show our first official public screening at The Center For Civil & Human Rights Museum in August!
If you’ve never been and want to see this film, stay tuned for details as we prepare to give a voice to the voiceless nationally!

Great news! This past week, we found out that Love Beyond Walls won a small grant from “See Beautiful” to complete our documentary workbook. This book will accompany our film that’s scheduled to release soon.

We are so grateful for the generosity of this group!

We can’t wait to give people “real time” processing material after watching the #voicelessfilm!
LBW Team

Terence gives a little insight into Love Beyond Walls upcoming documentary film entitled, “Voiceless.” We are planning to screen the film this coming August. To learn more, visit lovebeyondwalls.org and click VOICELESS FILM in the menu.